ACCEPTANCE & PROCESSING

• Stripe launches PayByBank this week as well as new flexible financing options through Stripe Capital. The company is also opening a new office in the City of London as it looks expand its UK operations.
• Adyen partners with Vapiano to enhance payment experience. Vapiano is an Italian restaurant group with outlets in London and Manchester. The partnership enables guests to customise their checkout experiences and facilitating the option for customers to order food via their mobile phones using digital wallet payments.
• DNA Payments has partnered with SUNMI to solidify presence in UK card acceptance. Utilising the expanding SUNMI team from the UK and DNA’s payment capabilities, the two companies will partner to deliver a unified commerce platform.
• SumUp introduces direct debits for all UK-based merchants who have a Business Account
• Nexi and its subsidiary POS provider orderbird have launched a payment platform for ISVs in Germany. Nexi Partner Portal (NPP) enables ISVs to onboard merchant accounts for card payment processing in under 48 hours.
• Parkopedia has entered into a partnership with Irdeto to simplify the EV charging process. EV drivers can locate, pay for parking, and charge their vehicles directly from their in-car media systems. This is set to remove the need for multiple apps or RFID cards.

BNPL

• Zopa Bank partners with Octopus Energy to offer fully integrated BNPL and retail finance products to its customers and clients across the UK.

CORPORATE ACTIVITY

• Stripe to enter the Indian payments market via a joint venture with State Bank of India and is looking to acquire a significant stake in SBI Payments.

REGULATION (UK)

• PSR steps back from capping Visa and Mastercard fees despite lack of competition. The market review into fees concludes that there is currently “no effective competition preventing the two biggest schemes raising prices” and that the supply of services to merchants is “not working well”. Instead they have suggested a series of remedies that aim to improve transparency around costs and ensure acquirers and business are given clearer information about the services provided.